For two Ivey grads, business is more than maximizing profits for a small group of shareholders. John Miner reports on the growing trend of social enterprise ventures

Textbooks line the walls of Textbooks for Change founder Chris Janssen’s office at the Goodwill building on White Oaks Rd. in London Ont. The books, donated by schools and students, are collected, sorted, and then donated to African universities.

In an era of firms with record profits shuttering operations and abandoning longtime workers in a relentless pursuit of greater efficiencies, Chris Janssen might seem out of step.

An award-winning student and newly minted graduate of Western University’s Ivey school of business, Janssen readily admits he thrives on entrepreneurship — the frantic pace and risk-taking offered by the business world.

But the 23-year-old wants more.

“I want to give back,” he said.

For Janssen, the solution is something called “social enterprise,” a growing movement that views business as potentially something more than just a vehicle to maximize profits for a narrow group of shareholders.

“It has a social purpose at its core, but you need to make a profit, you need to expand the business,” Janssen said.

Janssen’s idea for his own social enterprise was sparked by helping Western students raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation and Shinerama.

“I saw people had old textbooks sitting around their house. We decided to start collecting them and sell them back to students.”

The initial trial raised about $500 for the causes.

“After a discussion with a few of my friends, we thought we had an idea here.”

How it started

With help from friends, Janssen launched Textbooks For Change, collecting used textbooks from across the Western University community with the slogan “Help us change the world — one book at a time.”

In space provided free by Goodwill Industries in London, the thousands of donated textbooks were sorted.

About 50 to 60% were donated to libraries in Africa — Janssen had seen first-hand the desperate need for textbooks there when he taught at schools in Rwanda.

Another 10% of the textbooks were judged too outdated to be any use and were shipped to paper recycling plants.

The remaining texts were sold online to students at about half the price or lower than they would be charged at a book store.

Half the money from the online book sales went to the company and the other half was loaned out as micro-loans to entrepreneurs through KIVA, a non-profit organization that makes loans as small as $25 available to entrepreneurs with the goal of alleviating poverty.

The result from the first year of Textbooks For Change — 15,000 books donated to universities in Africa, $18,000 provided for micro-loans, $1,700 donated to non-profit organizations, and 15,758 books reused or recycled.

“People don’t realize the impact it can make until they go through the numbers,” Janssen said.

Future plans

Now Janssen and his business partner Tom Hartford want to take the concept national, expanding the enterprise to universities across Canada.

“It’s reaching out, letting people know we exist. It is a lot of e-mailing, calling, going to meet people.”

Janssen admits he might be missing out on financial rewards that a more traditional business career might provide, but he expects there will be a personal payback.

“I’m going to learn 10 times more than I ever would going to work for a finance company or something like that. I’m definitely going to put my heart, passion into it for the next three to five years. I really want to grow it, push it across Canada. I really want to make this business go.”

An Ivey professor’s take

“I see a lot of interest by students in (social entrepreneurship). It’s a generation that really is concerned about social justice, is concerned about what is going on in the world and is very connected, not just to their immediate sphere, but to the world around them, and want to do something,” said Rob Mitchell, who teaches entrepreneurship.

Mitchell points to Ivey school graduate Robert Lehnert who launched Cafe Xarangua in 2011 after finding a source of shade-grown coffee in Haiti.

“He had been there following the earthquake and wanted to do something. He decided he would start a coffee company, selling really high-quality coffee that’s also benefiting the farmers in Haiti. It was fair trade, but not just fair trade, planting trees and helping to actually promote Haitian coffee.

“What he’s doing is pushing beyond giving money to Haiti. It’s a great example of social enterprise that is meant to be profitable but also giving back to the community.”

What: “social enterprise” company started by Western grad Chris Janssen that collects old textbooks. Some are given to universities overseas and others are sold to students, with half the profits going to the company and other the half to micro-loans.

“People don’t realize the impact it can make until they go through the numbers.”

Chris Janssen of Textbooks for Change

“I see a lot of interest by students in this. It’s a generation that really is concerned about social justice, is concerned about what is going on in the world and is very connected, not just to their immediate sphere, but to the world around them.”